Simulation of airflow and aerosol deposition in the nasal cavity of a 5-year-old child

As a human grows from birth to adulthood, both airway anatomy and breathing conditions vary that alter the deposition rate and pattern of inhaled aerosols. However, deposition studies have typically focused on adult subjects, results of which may not be readily extrapolated to children. Furthermore, because of greater ventilation rate per body weight, children receive a greater dose than adults and therefore are more susceptible to respiratory risks. This study is to evaluate the transport and deposition of respiratory aerosols in a nasal-laryngeal airway model based on MRI head images of a 5-year-old boy. Differences between this child and adults in nasal physiology and aerosol filtering efficiency will be emphasized. A validated low Reynolds number (LRN) k−ω turbulence model was employed to simulate laminar, transitional, and fully turbulent flow regimes within the nasal airways. Particle trajectories and deposition in the spectrum of 0.5–32 μm were evaluated using a well-tested Lagrangian tracking approach for inhalation flow rates ranging from sedentary (3 L/min) to heavily active (30 L/min) conditions. Simulation results of the inhalation pressure drop and particle deposition rate provided a reasonable match with existing experimental results in nasal airway casts of children. Much higher breathing resistance was observed in the 5-year-old child compared to adults. Furthermore, deposition patterns were sensitive to inhalation flow rate under low activity conditions. An empirical correlation of child nasal filtering efficiency was proposed for micrometer particles based on a wide range of test conditions. Results of this study demonstrate that significant child–adult difference exists in inhaled aerosol depositions, which should be taken into account for risk assessment of airborne toxicants on infants and children.

Research highlights
► Remarkable child-adult differences were observed in both morphology and dimension.
► Compared to adult, the child nose has smaller nostrils, a shorter turbinate, and a much slenderer nasopharynx.
► Much higher breathing resistance was observed in the 5-year-old child than adults at the same flow rate.
► At the same flow rate, the child nasal airway has much higher deposition than adult.
► However, if scaled to comparable activity conditions, the child and adults showed similar deposition rates for equivalent level of activities.